It’s been 12 years since the Closing the Gap framework was established to close the life expectancy gap between First Nations and non-First Nations people in Australia. This year marks a new era in the framework, as the Coalition of Australian Governments (COAG) and the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations (Coalition of Peaks) work to create a new National Agreement on Closing the Gap which is more inclusive of First Nations voices. IE journalist Jessica Willis breaks down the last decade of the campaign, the government framework and why a new National Agreement is necessary.
A social justice campaign
The Close the Gap campaign was launched in 2006 (prior to the government’s Closing the Gap framework), when Tom Calma AO, the then Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, released a report highlighting the horrific gap in life expectancy and health standards in Australia.
He called for both First Nations and non-First Nations health and community organisations to come together to ‘close the gap’ in health, education and employment for First Nations Australians.
In 2007, Cathy Freeman and Ian Thorpe helped to officially launch the independent, Indigenous-led campaign at Olympic Stadium in Sydney, and to date over 200,000 Australians have signed a pledge supporting the campaign.
For the past ten years, Australians have shown their support for Close the Gap by marking National Close the Gap Day in their communities, schools and workplaces each March.
This day is an important reminder to hold governments to account in their commitment towards health equality for all Australians.
The campaign continues to call on governments to take real and measurable action to achieve health equality for First Nations Australians by 2030.
They also publish a yearly report in response to the government’s Closing the Gap report.
A government framework
In 2008, the then Prime Minister Keven Rudd and opposition leader Brendan Nelson signed the Close the Gap Statement of Intent which committed future governments to work towards closing the gap to reduce disparities in health, education and employment outcomes.
In November that year, COAG approved the National Indigenous Reform Agreement which set out six Closing the Gap targets:
- To close the life expectancy gap within a generation (2030)
- To halve the gap in mortality rates for Indigenous children under five within a decade (by 2018)
- To ensure access to early childhood education for all Indigenous four-year olds in remote communities within five years (by 2025)
- To halve the gap in reading, writing and numeracy for children within a decade (by 2018)
- To halve the gap for Indigenous students in year 12 attainment rates by 2020
- To halve the gap in employment outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a decade (by 2018).
A seventh target was added in 2014 to close the gap in school attendance by 2018.
Each year, the Prime Minister tables an annual Closing the Gap report to parliament, detailing what progress has been made towards each of the targets.
Despite more than 10 years, Australia still has one of the world’s worst life expectancy gaps between First Nations and non-First nations citizens.
Ten-year review and the Joint Council on Closing the Gap
Leading up to the 10-year anniversary of Closing the Gap, it was clear that despite the national commitment, not enough progress had been made – many of the gaps were persisting or widening – and governments were calling for a ‘refresh’ of the framework.
In 2016 COAG set out to develop new Closing the Gap targets that could be better measured and achievable; however, they continued to miss one critical factor: the formal recognition of First Nations voices.
In October 2018, 14 First Nations peak bodies wrote to the Prime Minister, Premiers and Chief Ministers to demand that changes to Closing the Gap not be made without formal input and support from First Nations communities and for a seat at the table to share in decision making.
This was agreed to and the historic partnership was marked in March 2019 with the signing of the Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap by COAG and the Coalition of Peaks – a group representing more than 50 First Nations community-controlled peak organisations.
Together they make up the Joint Council on Closing the Gap who are developing the New National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
This is the first time a COAG Ministerial Council has included non-government representatives and is the first time First Nations peak bodies will have an equal say in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the policy framework.
A new National Framework
The new National Agreement on Closing the Gap is set to be finalised in June 2020 and will draw on First Nations designed and led initiatives.
The Joint Council will focus on three priority reforms when developing the new agreement to accelerate the progress on closing the gap:
- Developing and strengthening structures to ensure the full involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in shared decision-making at the national, state and local or regional level and embedding their ownership, responsibility and expertise to close the gap;
- Building the formal Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled services sector to deliver closing the gap services and programs in agreed priority areas; and
- Ensuring all mainstream government agencies and institutions undertake systemic and structural transformation to contribute to Closing the Gap.
Pat Turner, Co-chair of the Joint Council on Closing the Gap and CEO of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), said there has never been an opportunity before for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak bodies to collectively use their expertise to close the gap.
“Never have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak bodies from across the country come together in this way: to bring their collective expertise, experiences and deep understanding of the needs of our people to the task of closing the gap; and never has there been this level of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation in parliaments and government decision making positions,” said Turner.
“What we heard overwhelmingly through our comprehensive community engagement process is that structural reform is far more critical than targets,“she said.
“We must ensure the full involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in shared decision-making at national, state, local and regional levels.
“We must also support Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people to control and deliver the programs and services our communities need.
“And finally, we need Australian governments to contribute through structural changes to mainstream and government funded services, such as universities, hospitals and policing and courts.
“Governments say that they are listening and support the Priority Reforms.
“But listening is more than a nod of the head, it requires the Priority Reforms to be translated into tangible, properly funded, actions that deliver real benefit to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people no matter where they live.”
The Close the Gap campaign echoed Turner’s sentiment in a statement saying: “Indigenous involvement and participation is vital – when our peoples are included in the design and delivery of services that impact their lives, the outcomes are far better. However, now that partnership is in place, governments must commit to urgent funding for Indigenous health equity and solutions to prevent further entrenching our social and economic disadvantage.”
Where we are now
The Closing the Gap Report 2020 released in February confirmed the need for a fundamentally new approach to closing the gap and closed off the era of reporting against the targets set by governments.
The report revealed that the target to close the life expectancy gap for First Nations people is only on track to meet two of the seven targets, finding that the life expectancy gap between First Nations and non-First Nations men is as high as 8.6 years and for women 7.8 years.
However, the early childhood education and Year 12 attainments targets were found to be on track as well as some improvements in reading and numeracy, employment and health.
While literacy scores for First Nations students have slightly improved over the past decade, at least 20 per cent are still behind the national benchmark.
First Nations employment rates are still below the national average and gains in health have been equal to or smaller than the health gains for non-First Nations Australians meaning that the ‘gap’ is persisting.
In the case of child mortality rates, the gap has widened since 2008.
Turner said governments need to learn from these failures and not repeat them.
“The truth is that the existing Closing the Gap framework was doomed to fail when it was designed without the input of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” Turner said.
“We know what will work best for our communities and the Prime Minister even acknowledges in this report that our voice was the missing ingredient from the original framework.
“This historic partnership could be the circuit breaker that is needed.
“However, if they view this process as little more than window dressing for the status quo, the cycle of failure evident in [the 2020 report] is doomed to continue.”
No matter which framework or campaign we refer to, the role of educators and education remains critical to advancing closing the gap.
Accessible and culturally inclusive schooling means all Australians have an equal opportunity to access health care, health education and employment.
For more information on how your school or workplace can help close the gap, please visit antar.org.au/closethegap/extra-guidance-schools